Investigation fails to identify those responsible in the January tragedy

A government inquiry ruled Monday that the collapse of a 55-year-old building in Hung Hom in January, that claimed four lives, was brought about by the application of some external force.

Specifically the investigation report of the Buildings Department (BD) cited the likelihood that a load-bearing column had been damaged prior to the collapse of the 5-storey building at 45J Ma Tau Wai Road in January.

The BD investigation probed three aspects of the collapse. First, it reviewed records of repairs, additions and alterations carried out on the structure. Secondly, it carried out site inspections, and then examined the evidence gathered in a laboratory. Third, the investigation took witness statements from everyone associated with the collapse.

The investigation included assessments of the structural capacity of the building under different loading conditions, including additional loadings imposed by subdivided flats on the upper floors. The columns had already fallen into inadequate or improper repair, reducing their effectiveness and diminishing structural capacity. That, however, is not seen as the reason for the final collapse since the structure still should have held.

Director of Buildings Au Choi-kai said ongoing investigations are focused on three collapsed columns situated on the ground level of the building (C11, C12 and C13). There were 11 columns in all.

When column C13 was disturbed its load capacity was reduced. As there was no provision for any precautionary measures - such as redistributing the load, weight borne by column C13 would have exceeded its capacity. Then nearby columns C11 and C12 came under an immense load.

"We concluded the collapse of the building at 45J was very likely triggered by the disturbance of column C13 by external forces," said Au. He declined to comment as to whether construction work may have set off the event. Further investigations will be conducted to confirm the origin of the forces.

Au stressed that under the existing ordinance, all building works, unless otherwise exempted, must obtain prior approval before building plans are implemented. But he admitted that usual renovation works will be exempted because they normally do not involve the load-bearing capacity of buildings.

Residents of the collapsed building expressed their disappointment over the investigation report since it does not identify the parties responsible for the collapse. A mother of one of those killed in the collapse, surnamed Lee, said, "We thought our home was a safe place; it turned out to be a cause of my son's death."

Another resident, also surnamed Lee, said she had hoped the administration would disclose the findings of the investigation report as soon as possible, so victims know who to turn to for recompense.

Following the Ma Tau Wai building collapse, the BD carried out inspection of 4,011 buildings aged 50 or above in February. The results revealed two buildings in Kowloon City requiring emergency remedial work. Another 1,030 were shown to have obvious defects, 1,270 to have minor defects and 1,709 showing no apparent defects. All the buildings were judged to be structurally safe in general.

China Daily

(HK Edition 04/27/2010 page1)